More sex abuse charges filed against former Camden County deputy

Thursday

Jan 18, 2018 at 2:53 PMJan 18, 2018 at 3:02 PM

Amy Wilson, awilson@westsidestar.net

More charges have been filed against a former Lake area police officer after a different juvenile female reported performing oral sex on Leonard Jerome Wilson while he was on duty, next to his patrol car.

Wilson is a now former Camden County deputy who had also worked at other area police departments in the past. On October 13, 2017, the 39-year-old was charged with possession of child pornography, fourth degree child molestation, furnishing pornographic material to a minor and second degree stalking in another investigation sparked by sexual misconduct complaints against him from adult women, both civilian and within the sheriff’s office.

The girl in the second case appears to have come forward in October 2017, possibly after the first case became public. In the probable cause statement, the Missouri State Technical Assistance Team investigator reported being assigned to the case on October 27, 2017 due to a report from a local school that the juvenile reported the incident to them. The alleged incident took place on April 25, 2017 at the girl's home, while the juvenile female in the first case reported the alleged inappropriate contact with Wilson beginning in June 2017.

Following an investigation, Wilson was charged December 29, 2017 in relation to the incident with the minor in the second case, and is facing two counts of second degree statutory sodomy and one count of fourth degree child molestation.

Wilson has been out on bond from the first set of charges.

A warrant on the second set of charges was issued January 4, 2018, according to Case.net, but it does not appear that he has been taken into custody yet. A bond of $100,000, 10 percent cash or surety, has been set in the new case.

Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney Dustin Dunklee has been assigned as special prosecutor in both cases.

In a forensic interview at Kids Harbor in Osage Beach, the girl told investigators that Wilson was on duty, in uniform and driving his patrol car, and had come to her foster home because of a problem one of the other girls at the home was having.

A later interview with the foster mother confirmed that Wilson had been to the home a few times. The woman recalled the evening in question, telling investigators that the girl had gone outside with Wilson, but she “didn’t have any concerns, and trusted him because Leonard was an officer; he was in uniform and on duty.”

According to the girl, she became alone with Wilson out at his patrol car after another girl went back inside.

The court document states the girl reported Wilson telling her she was beautiful and wanted her to move in with him because his wife wasn’t enough for him, and that he had always had a “crush” on her. Wilson allegedly began touching her inappropriately and grabbing her hands, making her touch his genitals.

The girl said she attempted to leave and at one point resisted his kisses by pulling her head away, according to the court document. She reported that Wilson tried to force her to kiss him, and eventually told investigators that he made her perform oral sex on him, all while still outside next to the patrol car.

Afterwards, Wilson allegedly kissed her and told her to send him photographs of her “whole body.” She said she only sent him photographs of her face, but he allegedly sent her a photograph of his genitals on Snapchat which she received on her phone. The photograph was reportedly sent the same day the incident occurred.

Looking at her phone, the girl told investigators the date of the incident, April 25, the court document states

The investigation included forensic examination of the girl’s phone. One contact for “Lenny Wilson” for Facebook Messenger and two Instagram contacts with the name of Lenny were allegedly recovered with one user ID that was all numbers and another that was “mr.wilson119.” According to the court document, chat and text conversations were located between the girl’s phone and the Lenny Wilson contact on six different dates.

No further information on these conversations were included in the probable cause statement, but it stated that further investigation is pending on the cell phone.

Snapchat was also one of the media for alleged inappropriate pictures from Wilson to the juvenile female in the Camdenton case and to the adult women who reported harassing behavior from him that included pictures of his genitals, sexually explicit messages and inappropriate videos. It should be noted that pictures and message on Snapchat are only available a short time before they become inaccessible.

Wilson allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior with the first minor after taking her home following a police pursuit June 8, 2017.

In the probable cause statement in this case, the girl told the STAT investigator that Wilson’s actions “made her feel really uncomfortable because she had been through things like that when she was a kid.”

The girl had known Wilson prior to the incident, having met him at school, and reported contact with him on Facebook and Snapchat beforehand, though nothing inappropriate until later.

After the incident, however, she told investigators communication became sexual in nature as he contacted her online using different user names. She described an escalating situation over social media, which eventually turned to alleged physical stalking.

Wilson reportedly showed up at her place of work in Lake Ozark, ostensibly about an investigation into a graduation party but instead talking about her personal life and allegedly touching her inappropriately once he had her alone in a meeting room, according to the probable cause statement.

In mid-August 2017, the girl alleged Wilson followed her home from work in a private vehicle, but the girl passed her home and was able to lose him on a gravel road driving at a high rate of speed.

Finally, the girl said Wilson stopped sending her Snapchat photos around the time she was contacted by the Camden County Sheriff’s Office about their investigation.

Based on the Camdenton girl’s extensive statements, a search warrant was obtained and Wilson’s two cell phones, a MicroSD card and a tablet were seized as evidence and forensically examined.

According to the probable cause statement, the only contact between the girl and Wilson found on the two phones occurred on June 8, 2017 during the police pursuit, either prior to or possibly during the pursuit itself. The calls reportedly came from the girl to Wilson. And while Wilson’s devices were Snapchat capable, no Snapchat images or videos were able to be recovered.

Computer experts were able to forensically extract 18 images from the MicroSD card of what the STAT investigator called child pornography and 49 images of what was described as “child erotica.” Investigators found 26 images that included Wilson on the same card. Four of the photographs showed Wilson with an adult female and a female child, and 22 were nude self-images of Wilson, the court document stated. Eight photos were of male genitals that appeared to be that of a black male.

Wilson turned himself in to the Miller County Sheriff’s Office in Tuscumbia around 10:30 p.m. November 2. He posted bond through a bonding agency about an hour later, having been assigned a $75,000 surety bond prior to his arrest.

Wilson was employed by the sheriff’s office from Jan. 24, 2017 through July 15, 2017. He was terminated due to disciplinary reasons unrelated to these charges, according to the sheriff’s office.

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